This invention relates to a V-type, multi-cylinder engine and more particularly to a camshaft driving arrangement for an engine.
As is well known, the valves of a four-cycle internal combustion engine are normally operated by means of a camshaft which is driven at one-half of the crankshaft speed. In many forms of engine, the camshaft axis is disposed adjacent the crankshaft axis and the camshaft operates the valves through push rods and other forms of mechanisms. In connection with such an arrangement, it is desirable in order to keep the engine as compact as possible to position the camshaft as close as possible to the crankshaft. However, with this type of arrangement, the camshaft is normally driven from the crankshaft by a single gear train and in order to obtain the necessary speed reduction, the size of the gears becomes quite large.
It is, therefore, a principal object of this invention to provide an improved and compact camshaft drive arrangement for an internal combustion engine.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a camshaft drive arrangement for an engine which permits the camshaft to rotate about an axis that is disposed closely adjacent the crankshaft axis but nevertheless is driven at one-half crankshaft speed.
When the engine is provided with banks of cylinders, the engine can be made much simpler if the valves associated with the cylinders of all cylinder banks are driven from a single camshaft. To enable this type of arrangement, it is the normal practice to place the camshaft in the valley between the cylinder banks and at the base of this valley. For reasons previously noted, the type of camshaft drives previously employed for rotating the camshaft at one-half crankshaft speed add to the bulk of the engine and dictate the actual location of the camshaft.
It is, therefore, a still further object of this invention to provide a more compact arrangement for driving a camshaft in a V-type engine.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a camshaft drive arrangement for a V-type engine wherein the length of the engine can be reduced and the compactness of it also improved.